Press Release: February 23, 2011
DC PRIMARY CARE ASSOCIATION IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE
THE OPENING OF MARY’S CENTER IN WARD 4
Washington, DC—The District of Columbia Primary Care Association (DCPCA) is proud to announce the opening of a new Mary’s Center site, located at 3912 Georgia Avenue NW, on Tuesday, March 1, 2011. Mary’s Center plans to hold a grand opening ceremony at the new site in the Spring.
Located on the first floor and mezzanine levels of the 3Tree Flats development, Mary’s Center is part of a mixed-use development project. Above the community health center, market-rate and affordable rental housing units were built through a joint venture of JAIR LYNCH Development Partners and Affordable Housing Developers, Inc. Mary’s Center and JAIR LYNCH Development Partners entered into a joint development relationship, brokered by DCPCA staff.
“DCPCA granted $11.625 million – nearly 70 percent of the project costs – as part of its Medical Homes DC grant program to Mary’s Center. This grant came with significant technical assistance from DCPCA’s advisors in finance and real estate development,” DCPCA Chief Executive Officer Sharon A. Baskerville explained.
Mary’s Center combined the grant from DCPCA with funds the health center was awarded from the DC Office of State Superintendent of Education and New Market Tax Credits (NMTC) to finance the $16.7 million project with minimal debt. “This is the second capital project brokered where a DCPCA grant was leveraged with a NMTC to allow for as little debt as possible. DCPCA also helped Mary’s Center to identify the relevant financial consultants and tax attorneys to get the deal done,” Baskerville said.
With a grant from DCPCA, Mary’s Center was able to enter into a purchase agreement with the developer that allowed the health center to loan the money to the developer at zero percent interest. This ultimately led to a reduction in project costs by allowing the developer to avoid the need to secure private financing for Mary Center’s base building. This was particularly important at a time when the recession was making private financing difficult to secure.
The Georgia Avenue site will become Mary Center’s largest community health center, with 26,000 square feet of space featuring 22 exam rooms and five dental chairs, as well as new spaces for mental health, adolescent, home visitation, social services, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and family literacy programs. This new facility will permit Mary’s Center to see approximately 20,000 patients annually – up from about 11,000 per year. This project is tracking to meet – and possibly exceed – its Silver target LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council.
“Mary’s Center is also one of the six community health centers that participated as early adopters of electronic health records through a health information technology project initiated by DCPCA,” Baskerville added.
This new facility is the second major expansion project largely funded by DCPCA’s Capital Projects initiative. DCPCA’s first major capital expansion project was Bread for the City‘s medical clinic, which opened in December 2010 and celebrated its grand opening and ribbon-cutting on January 7, 2011.
DCPCA is a nonprofit health care reform organization founded in 1996 to improve the health of DC’s vulnerable residents by ensuring that they receive high quality primary health care – regardless of their ability to pay. DCPCA represents 14 primary care providers in 48 sites across the District of Columbia.
DCPCA – action and innovation for health equity.
The DC Primary Care Association’s Medical Homes DC program is made possible in part by generous support from the DC Department of Health.
Contact: Karen A. Szulgit, DCPCA Senior Communications Specialist, (202) 638-0252, extension 214
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